IBD Lights! Camera! Karats!

Hey Everyone!!! It is almost Friday! YAY! I am ready for the week to be over. C got some good news about a new job so we are keeping our fingers crossed on that. T comes back home tomorrow night so I am excited. Other than that I am just ready for a nap. 

Today I have another brand of gel polish for you. I didn't end up using the Couture Pillow Talk because I wasn't in the mood for pink. I might have to end up swapping or selling that one. I just can't see me using it. Today I have an IBD Just Gel Polish for your viewing pleasure. This was gifted to me by my very good friend who apparently has some awesome beauty supply stores in her area. I haven't really seen this brand around here much though I have seen some great swatches online. It is a pretty affordable brand and the bottles are 14ml so they are nice and full size. 

For this mani I used a glitter polish that my friend had picked out. This is Lights! Camera! Karats! from their Tinseltown Collection. 

This is more of a glitter topper but I wasn't in the mood for a base coat so I used it alone. Please excuse my uneven, dirty looking nails. I swear they really aren't dirty but they are definitely uneven and it is more evident with clear polish on. 

Lights! Camera! Karats! is a clear based topper with blue shimmer, iridescent glitter and short silver bar glitter. It is a great glitter and shimmer combination. 

I found the glitter payoff to be low on this one. I didn't have to fish the glitter out but I did have to roll the bottle a little to get it mixed in better.

I believe I used two coats for this mani. The first was a thin coat with the second being a little heavier so that I could get more glitter out. I had figured I was going to have to do 4 to get fuller coverage on the glitter so I just stopped at two. It is a fun topper and even nice to wear when you want to add a little sparkle instead of having just clear on your nails. 

Next time I am going to have to give it a try over a base color. Once in awhile I like to have something sparkly but subtle on my nails and this fits the bill nicely. 

That's all for now :)

Don't Feed the Tiger

Hey Everyone!  Sorry I skipped yesterday. I think I have either pulled something or I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder and last night it was hurting. After using the heating pad for awhile I figured I would start a gel mani in hopes I would start feeling better. I did start feeling better since I had changed the way I was sitting BUT the gel mani took way too long and by the time I was done I was too tired to blog. The mani came out pretty nice but I definitely need a new area to do my gel manis in because the lighting was awful.

Today I have a mani to show you that I did for New Years. I don't do gold often and figure New Years was the time to do it.

I had a gel mani base of IBD Aphrodite on already and painted over it.

This was three coats of Aphrodite.

It was nice and sparkly, perfect to do gold over.

I used Essence Don't Feed the Tiger from their Circus Circus collection. It is a duo polish with gold on one side and black square glitter on the other. I had a duh moment and forgot to take a picture of  the polish.

I LOVE this combo. I love the glitter too and honestly the gold is not so gold that it is the type of gold I don't wear. This polish is a complete WIN!

I did more of a gradient with the gold. I didn't go all the way down to my cuticles so you can see Aphrodite peeking out.

I LOVE black glitter and I didn't realize until I started painting that this was square glitter. BONUS! I wanted to do a reverse gradient with the glitter and have it thicker at the base then thinning out toward the tips.

I didn't quite accomplish it completely because the square glitter was sparse and not the right type of glitter for what I envisioned but I LOVE the way it came out.

I love that my camera can take these close up shots! SO AWESOME!!

AND I introduce you to my snowman clan.

I don't remember if I showed them before but I LOVE THEM so I am showing them again. Most of them have flown to their new homes already.

That's all for now :)